“The attention-span of the movie-going public just isn’t up to lengthy films anymore. Long gone are the days when people could sustain interest throughout twenty eight days,” claimed Danny Boyle, director. “Added to which, there’s a global shortage of popcorn.”
Boyle went on to explain how he had managed to trim 125 hours and 33 minutes from Simon Beaufoy’s script. “Well, for a start we made the boulder much smaller – in fact, it was more of a largish pebble.”
Rather than sawing his arm off with a multiuse tool, James Franco, lead actor, was required to remove the end of his little finger with a toe-nail clipper. “It was really, really gruesome,” said the director, “even though he was only pretending.” He added, “Oh yes, and we changed the location to a little place just outside East Grinstead, which is quite like Utah if you squint a bit. I don't think we've sacrificed any major plot points.”
Simon Beaufoy is recovering in a small private clinic on the outskirts of Dudley.